System and method for providing extra lines of credit

ABSTRACT

A system and method for upgrading existing credit cards with additional lines of credit is disclosed. Credit information associated with customers holding credit cards issued by a credit card issuer are analyzed to determine a level of risk associated with each customer. One or more extra line of credit may be established for selected customers based on the determined level of risk associated with each customer. Each extra credit line may be exclusively associated with a selected set of vendors that have a partnership agreement with the credit card issuer. The credit card issuer may allow customers to select vendors to be associated with the extra credit line or may automatically choose vendors for selected customers. Customers with established extra credit lines may purchase goods and/or service directly from vendor sites or at the credit card issuer&#39;s web sites. Purchases at selected vendor sites may be automatically applied to a customer&#39;s newly established extra credit line. Additionally, a customer may choose to apply purchases to their extra credit lines or their primary line of credit

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

I. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to credit card products and to systems andmethods for providing and using such products. More particularly, theinvention relates to systems and methods for modifying an existingcredit card product to provide one or more extra lines of credit andassociating one or more vendors with one or more extra lines of crediton a credit card product. The invention also relates to systems andmethods for editing vendor profiles associated with one or more extralines of credit for existing and newly issued credit card products.

II. Background and Material Information

Credit card products have become so universally well known andubiquitous that they have fundamentally changed the manner in whichfinancial transactions and dealings are viewed and conducted in societytoday. Credit card products are most commonly represented by plasticcard-like members that are offered and provided to customers throughcredit card issuers (such as banks and other financial institutions).With a credit card, an authorized customer or cardholder is capable ofpurchasing services and/or merchandise without an immediate, directexchange of cash. With each purchase, the cardholder incurs debt totheir credit card account, which the cardholder may thereafter pay uponreceipt of a monthly or otherwise periodic statement. In most cases, thecardholder will have the option to either fully pay the outstandingbalance or, as a matter of necessity or choice, defer at least a portionor the balance for later payment with accompanying interest or financecharges for the period during which payment of the outstanding debt isdeferred (also referred to as a revolving charge credit line).

The spending power of a credit card (i.e., the maximum amount of fundsthat is financed to the cardholder for making purchases) is typicallylimited to a particular amount that is predetermined by the issuer ofthe card. This amount is commonly referred to as the “credit limit” ofthe credit card. The credit limit provides the cardholder with a line ofcredit (also referred to as a credit line). The size of theissuer-imposed credit limit is generally based on a number ofnon-exclusive factors, the most important of which are often thecardholder's earning capacity and the cardholder's credit history. Whenpurchases are made or debts incurred with the credit card, the availableportion of the credit limit is reduced by the purchase or debt amounts.In addition, interest and/or finance charges are also subtracted fromthe available portion of the credit limit on a periodic basis. The totaldebits on a credit card are referred to as the “outstanding balance,”while the remaining or available balance of the credit limit istypically called the “available balance” and reflects the dynamicallyadjusted current spending power of the credit card. The cardholder mayincrease the available balance up to the credit limit, by paying theoutstanding balance to the issuer.

Credit card issuers usually provide general purpose credit cards thatmay be used for a plurality of different goods and services and with awide variety of merchants. For example, a Visa, MasterCard, AmericanExpress, Dinner's Club are examples of general purpose credit cards.Since general purpose credit cards are intended for “general use” by acardholder, they are typically not associated with a singlemerchant/vendor or limited in use.

Some credit card issuers or merchants issue private label credit cards(e.g., a Sears Charge Card) for use exclusively with a merchant's goodsand/or services. Such private label credit cards may be issued tocustomers of the merchant to provide an incentive to purchase the goodsand/or services of the merchant. Private label credit cards may beissued with different types of terms and conditions. For example, aprivate label credit card may include a private label credit line with apredetermined credit limit and the possibility of deferring payment onan outstanding balance with a finance or interest charge (e.g., arevolving credit line). A private label credit card may also include acharge account that requires the cardholder to pay the balance in fullat the end of each month or the card may include an installment line ofcredit where the cardholder is required to make a fixed, periodicpayment to the merchant (or the merchant's representative) until theinstallment debt is paid.

Private label credit cards have several disadvantages. For example, thecredit line of a private label credit card may only be used to makepurchases in connection with the merchant's goods and/or services. As aresult, a private label credit card limits a customer's overall use ofthe credit card. Moreover, if the private label credit card includes acharge account that requires full payment of the outstanding balance atthe end of the month, the cardholder tends to limit use of themerchant's credit card to an amount that can be paid at the end of themonth.

To overcome the above mentioned disadvantages, credit cards have beencreated that offer dual lines of credit. Dual line credit cards includea general purpose credit line and a private label credit line. Dual linecards provide cardholders with the ability to purchase goods from aspecific merchant or make general purchases for a wide variety of goodsor services. Methods and systems for providing dual line credit cardsare described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/659,585, filed Sep.11, 2000, which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

Although dual line credit cards provide advantages over conventionalcredit cards, they require credit card issuers to generate and issue newaccounts or cards to customers. This requires customers to prepare newcredit applications that card issuers have to process before a new cardmay be issued. Customers must therefore wait until the new credit cardis received before they can use the dual line credit card. Furthermore,although the use of dual lines of credit on a single card providesversatility for customers and merchants, the resources used by the cardissuer to generate such credit cards increases with each acceptedapplication. Also, dual line credit cards are still limited in the sensethat each private label credit line is associated with a specificmerchant or vendor; and, thus restricts a customer's purchasing powerwith the private label credit line.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Methods, systems and articles of manufacture consistent with theprinciples of the present invention enable credit card issuers to offerselected customers with the option of obtaining extra lines of creditfor their existing cards.

Consistent with the principles of the invention, a credit card issuerdetermines a selected customer base from which to offer additional linesof credit. Once the issuer sets up a database associated with each ofthese customers' accounts, offers are extended to these customers usinga variety of communication channels. These channels may includeconventional solicitation techniques, as well as on-the spot offerswhile customers are purchasing goods.

Consistent with the principles of the invention, credit card issuers inpartnership with participating vendors may offer a customer one or moreextra lines of credit that are each associated with a specific group ofvendors. Vendor group credit lines may be selected by each customer ormay be determined by the card issuer.

Consistent with the principles of the invention, credit card issuers mayauthorize transactions by customers attempting to purchase goods and/orservices from specific vendors using their credit card product withextra credit. The credit card issuer may authorize transactions based onvendor lists associated with the customer. Furthermore, the card issuersmay solicit and register new customers for the extra credit cardproducts with multiple lines of credit during a transaction session,whether on-line or off line.

Methods, systems and articles of manufacture consistent with theprinciples of the present invention enable credit card holders to obtainadditional credit lines on their existing cards, without having to waitfor a new card. Furthermore, methods, systems and articles ofmanufacture consistent with the present invention enable customers andcard issuers to chose vendors that may be associated with the extralines of credit.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory onlyand are not restrictive of the invention, as described. Further featuresand/or variations may be provided in addition to those set forth herein.For example, the present invention may be directed to variouscombinations and subcombinations of the disclosed features and/orcombinations and subcombinations of several further features disclosedbelow in the detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate various embodiments and aspectsof the present invention and, together with the description, explain theprinciples of the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system environment in which the featuresand principles of the present invention may be implemented;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary flowchart for offering and adding extra creditlines to existing credit card accounts, in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. 3A is an exemplary flowchart for processing responses to offers forextra credit lines, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3B is an exemplary segment database for activating extra lines ofcredit, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3C is an exemplary flowchart for processing edits to a customer'svendor profile, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is another exemplary system environment for providing a creditcard with multiple lines of credit, in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. 5A is an exemplary flowchart for processing a purchase transaction,in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5B is an exemplary flowchart for authorizing a purchasetransaction, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is another exemplary system environment for providing a creditcard with multiple lines of credit, in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are exemplary flowcharts for processing a purchasetransaction in the exemplary environment shown in FIG. 6, in accordancewith the present invention;

FIG. 7C is an exemplary offer for an extra line of credit, in accordancewith the present invention; and

FIG. 7D is another exemplary offer for an extra line of credit, inaccordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the invention, examples of whichare illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, thesame reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer tothe same or like parts.

Generally, the present invention is directed to a system and method forproviding one or more extra lines of credit on existing credit cards. Inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention, credit cardholders are presented offers for obtaining extra line(s) of credit fortheir existing credit cards. These offers may be presented throughconventional solicitation techniques, as well as during customerpurchase transactions. The additional line(s) of credit may include, forexample, one or more private label credit line(s) and a general purposecredit line. The private label credit line(s) may be associated with avariety of vendor partnership structures. That is, a customer may have aprivate label credit line associated with a single vendor, or with agroup of vendors. Purchases to be charged to the private label creditline(s) may be only authorized at vendor sites associated with thevendor partnership structure. The general purpose credit line may alsobe provided to permit purchases for a variety of goods and/or servicesfrom merchants that accept the general purpose credit line.

Methods and systems consistent with the principles of the presentinvention permit a cardholder or consumer to obtain a credit card withmultiple lines of credit without waiting for a newly issued card. Oncethe card issuer has authorized and processed a customer's acceptance ofan extra credit plan, the customer may carry only a single credit cardthat can be used both as a general credit card and as a private labelcredit card. Moreover, a card issuer may offer customers a wide varietyof options corresponding to the types of vendors the private labelcredit line(s) are to be associated with. Also, because the popularityof on-line shopping is increasing, card issuers may offer the sameadvantages to customers who shop at a card issuer's branded web site, aswell as at specific vendor websites. Thus, the features of the presentinvention may be used to target existing credit card customers andpromote or encourage on-line shopping at specific web site(s).

The present invention also relates to systems and methods for upgradingor modifying an existing credit card product with multiple lines ofcredit, wherein one or more lines of credit (such as a general purposecredit line) is embedded into a main line of credit (such as a privatelabel line of credit). Each embedded credit line may permit thecardholder to make revolving credit charges for a wide variety of goodsand services. The embedded credit lines may include, for example,different types of the credit lines (e.g., general purpose creditlines), with the main line of credit (e.g., the private label line ofcredit) providing an incentive to the cardholder to make purchases withspecific merchant(s). Each embedded credit line (i.e., a general purposecredit line) may have a maximum credit limit that is greater than, equalto or less than the maximum credit limit for the main line of credit(i.e., the private label credit line). Any charge to the embedded creditline may cause a dollar-for-dollar reduction in the amount of availablecredit for the main credit line. For example, with a main credit linethat is established as a private label credit line of $6,000, and anembedded credit line that is established as a general purposed creditline of $4,000, charges applied to the general purpose credit line willreduce the available credit under the private label credit line. Forinstance, a $1,500 charge to the general purpose credit line will reducethe available credit under the private label credit line by $1,500 to$4,500 (assuming there are no other outstanding charges). Such a chargewill also reduce the available credit under the general purpose creditline by $1,500 to $2,500. Additionally, the private label credit linemay be configured to have a credit line that is unaffected by chargesapplied to the general credit line.

The above-noted features and other aspects and principles of the presentinvention may be implemented in various environments. Such environmentsand related applications may be specially constructed for performing thevarious processes and operations of the invention or they may include ageneral purpose computer or computing platform selectively activated orreconfigured by program code to provide the necessary functionality. Theprocesses disclosed herein are not inherently related to any particularcomputer or other apparatus, and may be implemented by a suitablecombination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. For example, variousgeneral purpose machines may be used with programs written in accordancewith teachings of the invention, or it may be more convenient toconstruct a specialized apparatus or system to perform the requiredmethods and techniques.

The present invention also relates to computer readable media thatinclude program instruction or program code for performing variouscomputer-implemented operations based on the methods and processes ofthe invention. The program instructions may be those specially designedand constructed for the purposes of the invention, or they may be of thekind well-known and available to those having skill in the computersoftware arts. Examples of program instructions include for examplemachine code, such as produced by a compiler, and files containing ahigh level code that can be executed by the computer using aninterpreter.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system environment 1000 in which thefeatures and principles of the invention may be implemented. Asillustrated in FIG. 1, the system environment 1000 includes a pluralityof customers (1010-1050), a response vehicle system 1100 including aplurality of different response vehicles (1110-1150), a credit cardissuer 1200, a central database 1300 and a communications channel 1400.

Each customer in system environment 1000 is associated with a differentcustomer category. For instance, customer(s) 1010 may be web sitecustomer(s) that access and retrieve information through a web site.This web site may be a branded web site that is operated by one or morevendors, or may be a web site operated by the card issuer. Also, the website may include web sites operated by vendors that are in partnershipwith the card issuer 1200. Customer(s) 1020 may be telephone customersthat access and receive information using conventional telephoniccommunication techniques and systems. This includes, for example,wireline and wireless telephony systems. Customer(s) 1030 may beconventional mail customer(s) that access and receive information byconventional mail techniques and services. This includes, for example,customer(s) that are part of a credit card issuer's mailing list.Customer(s) 1040 may be customer(s) that access and receive informationusing electronic mail services, and customer(s) 1050 may be point ofsale customer(s) that perform purchase transactions and receiveinformation at a vendor's point of sale terminal or physical storelocation. Customer(s) 1010-1050 may also represent entities (such as anindividual, a group of individuals, corporate entities, or anycombination thereof), that hold credit card accounts with the creditcard issuer 1200. The categories of customer(s) illustrated in FIG. 1are exemplary and should not be considered limiting. For example, avariety of different customer categories may also be implemented inenvironment 1000, such as customers using kiosk computers or personaldigital assistants (PDAs).

Response vehicle 1100 represents a system for handling communicationsbetween the customer(s) 1010-1050 and credit card issuer 1200. Responsevehicle 1100 may be part of a credit card issuer's network and, as shownin FIG. 1, include a plurality of response vehicles 1110-1150 thatcorrespond to different category groups of customer(s) 1010-1050. Eachresponse vehicle is responsible for handling communications to and froma particular customer. For example, telephone response vehicle 1120handles telephonic communications between the customer 1020 and creditcard issuer 1200. Thus, in the event credit card issuer 1200 wishes tosolicit customers telephonically, response vehicle 1120 includes thenecessary systems to support such operations. Response vehicle 1130, onthe other hand, includes the necessary systems and organizations tohandle conventional mail processing to and from customer(s) 1030.Response vehicle system 1140 includes the necessary systems andorganizations to process electronic mail transactions with customer1040. Response vehicle 1150, in turn, includes systems and organizationsthat enable communications with customers located at a point of sale(POS) terminal. Response vehicle system 1100 may receive responses fromthe customer(s) and forward them to card issuer 1200 for appropriateprocessing. Notifications to the customer(s) also are performed fromissuer 1200 to the customer(s) through response vehicle 1100.

Communication channel 1400 facilitates communications between thevarious customer(s) and response vehicle system 1100 illustrated inFIG. 1. Such communications may include communications related tooffering and issuing extra lines of credit for existing credit cards.Communications' channel 1400 may include, for example, a telephony-basednetwork, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), adedicated intranet, the Internet, and/or a wireless network. Further,any suitable combination of wired and/or wireless components and systemsmay be incorporated into communications channel 1400. Any suitablecombination of point-to-point communications or networked communicationsmay also be incorporated into communication channel 1400 to facilitatecommunication between the different entities illustrated in FIG. 1.Moreover, any part of communication channel 1400 may implemented throughtraditional infrastructures or channels of trade, to permit operationsassociated with the extra credit offers to be performed manually orin-person by the various entities illustrated in FIG. 1.

Credit card issuer 1200 receives communication information from responsevehicle system 1100 and processes it using central database 1300.Database 1300 may contain various information including creditinformation, potential customer lists, risk scores for potential extracredit customers, approved extra credit customers, private label creditlimits for approved cardholders, general credit limits for approvedcardholders, vendor tables including merchant identification numbers,customer information, purchase information, authorization information,and/or settlement information. Issuer 1200 also sends information to theresponse vehicle system 1100 for delivery to the appropriate customers.Credit card issuer 1200 is responsible for providing various creditcards and establishing associated accounts. Credit card issuer 1200 mayinclude one or more of the following: a bank, an acquiring bank, amerchant bank, a merchant or any commercial institution capable ofproviding a credit card consistent with the features disclosed herein.Further, although FIG. 1 only illustrates one credit card issuer 1200,it is of course possible that more than one credit card issuer beprovided in system environment 1000.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary process associated with solicitingoffers and processing responses for extra credit lines from credit cardcustomers. According to an aspect of the invention, to issue additionallines of credit on existing credit cards, credit card issuer 1200 mayidentify specific customers to receive an extra credit line offer (Step210). To evaluate and identify specific credit card customers, severalfactors may be considered by the card issuer 1200. Such factors may bebased on credit information received from one or more credit informationsources (i.e., sources that provide credit information to credit cardissuer 1200). Credit information may also be provided to credit cardissuer 1200 when customers respond to credit card offers from issuer1200. Moreover, credit information may be requested by issuer 1200 whiledetermining a target customer group to extend offers. Credit informationmay include credit history information and/or personal information(e.g., income, employment status, etc.) that is used when evaluating acustomer's credit worthiness. Credit information sources may comprisecommercial credit information source (such as TRW/Experian, Equifax andTransUnion or a similar commercial credit service bureau) and/or privatecredit information services. Credit information sources may alsorepresent credit information that was provided by customers, such aswhen a customer applied for their existing credit card.

The credit information is analyzed to determine the credit worthiness ora level of risk associated with each cardholder. If a customer hassufficient credit for one or more extra credit lines, credit card issuer1200 may approve the customer for inclusion in a target customer group.The target customer group includes all identified customers that cardissuer 1200 will provide offers for extra line(s) of credit.

In accordance with the present invention, the extra line(s) of creditmay be associated with private label credit lines. The extra line(s) ofcredit may include a single extra credit line or multiple extra line(s)of credit. For example, an existing credit card may include two lines ofcredit or “buckets”. The first “bucket”, may be a general purpose lineof credit and the second “bucket” may be a cash advance line. Extracredit line(s) for this credit card may include a single “3^(rd) bucket”or additional “4^(th) and 5^(th) buckets.” These buckets each may bededicated to specific merchants or vendors, or groups thereof. Vendorsmay include merchants that offer goods and/or services to consumers.Each merchant may be a specific merchant of goods and/or servicesassociated with private label credit line(s) of the present invention.Merchants may also include one or more merchants that offer goods and/orservices that can be purchased through the general purpose credit lineof the invention. In general, cardholders may make purchases frommerchants with credit cards, including credit cards of the presentinvention that have been upgraded or modified to include multiple linesof credit.

Once card issuer 1200 has identified a target group of customers (whichmay be stored in central database 1300) it generates offers for theseselected customers. The offers may vary for each customer based on thecredit worthiness determined in Step 210 (see FIG. 2). That is, acustomer with a high credit risk may be offered an extra credit linewith a relatively low available balance (e.g., $500). Another customerwith a lower credit risk may be offered an extra line of credit with arelatively high available balance (e.g., $5000). Moreover, additionalcredit lines or buckets may be offered to customers with low creditrisks, while higher risk customers may be limited to a single extracredit line. The options available to the card issuer 1200 may extendbeyond these options as well. Specific types of vendors or vendor groupsmay be associated with selected buckets offered to particular customers.For example, a high risk customer may be offered an extra credit linethat is associated with a single vendor, while a low risk customer maybe offered a plurality of buckets, with each bucket associated with aplurality of vendors. These options and their processing are furtherdescribed with reference to FIG. 3A.

In order to provide the versatility associated with vendor based creditline(s), a partnership may be established between one or more vendorsand credit card issuer 1200. That is, selected vendors may be includedin a master vendor list maintained by card issuer 1200, thus enablingcustomers of issuer 1200 to benefit from private label lines of creditassociated with vendors. Vendors benefit from the additional businesscreated by customers of issuer 1200 using their extra credit line(s) attheir sites to purchase goods and/or services.

Once the offers are generated, they are sent to response vehicle system1100 for distribution to the customers (Step 220). Each response vehiclein vehicle 1100 processes the offers in order to provide them to thecustomers through the proper medium or communication channel. Forinstance, response vehicle 1110 formulates offers for generation andviewing on one or more web sites. These web sites may be associated witha card issuer's web site or sites that are operated by selected vendors.Response vehicle 1150, on the other hand, processes the offers forpresentation to customers who are performing a transaction at a point ofsale terminal or at a vendor's site. Once each response-vehicle hasprocessed the offers, they are sent to the specified customers forresponse (Step 220). Customers 1010-1050 respond to the offers using themedium associated with their category. The responses are sent back toresponse vehicle system 1100 (Step 230), where they are processed forpresentation to card issuer 1200 (Step 240).

Based on the category of a customer, responses may or may not beprocessed immediately. For instance, responses may be received andprocessed instantaneously for customers 1010, 1020 and 1050, whileresponses from customers 1030 and 1040 may be delayed. For example,suppose a customer 1010 using a personal computer, views a web siteoperated by issuer 1200. The site may include a designated page that ispresented to the customer that displays the offer determined by issuer1200. The customer may decide to accept or decline the offer by merelyselecting an icon representing their choice. The selection is then sentback to response vehicle 1110. Response vehicle 1110 processes theresponse and prepares it for presentation to card issuer 1200. Theresponse is processed at card issuer 1200 and a notification message issent back to customer 1010, through response vehicle 1110 (Step 250).The notification message indicates to the customer that their responseto an offer has been processed and whether or not an additional creditline was approved and available for use. The notification messages maybe displayed through the page that the customer was viewing when theoffer was presented or on a separate page. Further description of howcard issuer 1200 processes the responses is explained below withreference to the description of FIG. 3A.

As can be seen, a customer who has accepted an offer through a web sitemay receive immediate notification that an extra credit line for theircredit card is available for use. On the other hand, a customer who hasbeen solicited by conventional mail, such as customer 1030, may respondto the offer by mailing back an acceptance form to the card issuer. Theresponse form would be received and processed by response vehicle 1130,and eventually processed by credit card issuer 1200. Notification of theactivation of an extra credit line may then be sent back to the customerusing the same conventional mail process.

There may be a plurality of variations available to card issuer 1200when communicating with customers. That is, a mail customer 1030 maywish to respond by telephone or through a web site. Additionally,customers may respond by one medium, and request notification byanother. For instance, a customer 1030 who has received an offer in themail, may respond by mail, yet request notification by email.Accordingly, a variety of user friendly options are available tocustomers for receiving and responding to the offers presented by cardissuer 1200. The above descriptions are for illustration purposes aloneand should not be viewed as limitations to the present invention. One ofordinary skill in the art would realize that any number of combinationsof communication techniques may be implemented without departing fromthe principles of the present invention.

FIG. 3A illustrates the functions performed by credit card issuer 1200when processing customer responses. Prior to generating offers orreceiving responses, card issuer 1200 prepares central database 1300 forreceiving extra credit information for each account. Central database1300 may include a plurality of tables that store account informationfor each customer holding credit cards issued from credit card issuer1200. One of these tables may be a main customer table that storesinformation reflecting each customer's account status. The main tablemay include “segments” that represent various information, such as theline(s) of credit available for a particular customer, outstanding andavailable balances, account numbers and any other cardholder data. Toprepare central database 1300 for extra credit processing, card issuer1200 creates additional segments in the main table that representadditional lines of credit for customers (Step 310A). Thus, if creditcard issuer 1200 is preparing to offer three additional lines of creditor buckets, three new segments are created. Alternately, card issuer1200 may create a new database table exclusively for customers includedin the target customer group determined in Step 210 of FIG. 2. The newtable would include the new segments reflecting the extra bucketsoffered to the target customer group.

FIG. 3B illustrates an exemplary main table 300B after a third segmenthas been added. Segment 1 (310B) may be associated with a generalpurpose credit line, while segment 2 (320B) may be associated with acash advance credit line. In accordance with an aspect of the presentinvention, credit card issuer 1200 creates a new segment (330B) in maintable 300B associated with an extra line of credit. Each segment 310B,320B and 330B may include fields associated with a credit cardcustomer's credit card account. For example, each segment in main table300B may include an available balance field (340B), an interest ratefield (350B), a transaction fee field (360B) and an activation flagfield (370B). Available balance filed (340B) may be associated with anavailable balance for each respective credit line. Thus, customer A inmain table 300B, has an available credit of $10,000, $2000 and $1000 fora general purpose credit line, cash advance credit line and an extracredit line, respectively. Field 350B may represent the interest rateapplied to the respective credit line. That is, the interest rateapplied to the general purpose credit line associated with customer A is16.5%. Field 360B may represent a fee applied a particular customer'saccount for each transaction. Thus, for example, each time customer Buses his extra line of credit, a $2.50 fee is charged to his account.Field 370B may represent a flag that is set when a particular segment isactivated. As shown in FIG. 3B, the extra credit line for customers Aand B has been activated, while customer C's extra line of credit isnot. The fields shown in FIG. 3B are exemplary, and should not beconsidered limiting. Any number of fields may be added to each segmentto allow a credit card issuer the versatility in maintaining acustomer's credit card account.

Once the new segments are created in central database 1300, card issuer1200 filters customer responses received from response vehicle 1100. Thefiltering process determines whether a customer has accepted or declinedthe offers sent by card issuer 1200 (Step 316A). Card issuer 1200generates notification messages for customers who have declined theextra credit offer, and sends the messages to response vehicle 110 fordelivery to these customers. However, for customers who have acceptedthe offer, the appropriate segment(s) in the main table are activated(Step 318A). Activation of the segments provide available creditbalances for each buckets associated with an activated segment.

In an alternate aspect of the present invention, card issuer may decideto activate all new segments in database 1300 for each customer in thetarget customer group, prior to processing the responses. According tothis aspect of the invention, credit card issuer 1200 activates the newsegments when they are created (Step 312A). Then, customers who haveaccepted the offers are filtered (Step 314A). After filtering, theprocess is directed to Step 320A described later. This alternate processmay reduce processing time by eliminating the activation step when aresponse is received by a customer. However, by activating the segmentsprior to the filtering process, customers who have declined the offerswill have activated segments. In this scenario, these customers willsimply not be notified of the active buckets. A modification to thisaspect of the invention may include using the results of the filteringprocess to deactivate all segments for customers who have declined theoffers. Deactivation may be performed immediately, or at a later timesuch as when an expiration date is reached.

After filtering and activation, card issuer 1200 may determine whetherit is implementing a customer profile option (Step 320A). Customerprofiles may be used by card issuer 1200 to obtain information relatedto a customer's interests. Profiles may be generated based on a varietyof information, including past purchases, visited web sites and surveys.Customer profiles may also include demographic information collectedfrom a variety of sources, such as Internet related sources. This may beperformed by retrieving user identification information associated witha customer requesting selected web pages, using techniques well known inthe art, such as cookies, and checking the identification informationagainst a user profile resource. This process allows the customer, or agroup of customers, to be associated with particular social, economic,educational and/or commercial interests. The process of utilizingcustomer or group profiles for classifying customers for targetmarketing is well known in the art, and the present invention canimplement any number of these techniques. If it is determined thatcustomer profiles are being used by card issuer 1200 (Step 320A; YES),the profile for a selected customer is accessed (Step 322A). Along withprofiles, card issuer 1200 may also control whether the customer has achoice in selecting vendors for their extra line(s) of credit (Step324A). If card issuer 1200 denies selections by customers, theappropriate vendor groups may be selected automatically, based on thecustomer's profile (Step 326A). This option, although limiting for thecustomer, has great versatility for the credit card issuer 1200.

This versatility enables card issuer 1200 to provide a variety ofregulated options for its customers, based on their profiles. Forexample, a customer who is a college student may have a profile thatindicates not only personal interests but also the school attended bythe customer. Card issuer 1200 may offer this customer extra creditlines that are strictly associated with the college or universityattended by the customer. Card issuer 1200 may authorize transactions ona selected bucket only at vendor sites located at or near theuniversity. These sites may include university operated bookstores,campus restaurants and other vendor sites that may be found on or nearthe college campus. This option gives student customers an incentive toaccept the card issuer's offer, while at the same time allowing creditcard issuer 1200 to offer extra buckets to what statistically may be agroup of high risk customers. Card issuer 1200 may also limit a singlevendor to a credit line, as in the above example, or group severalvendors into vendor groups. These groups may be authorized for use withselected credit lines added to a customer's card.

Vendor groups may be created in a number of different ways. One such waymay be to categorize vendors based on related goods or services that areoffered. Examples of categories may include athletics, outdooractivities (fishing, camping, etc.), travel, music and electronics.Broader categories such as those directly associated with departmentstores and gas stations may be used as well. Card issuer 1200 may createpredetermined vendor groups including vendors that offer goods and/orservices related to the group. The created vendor groups may then beselected for a customer based on the customer's profile. Therefore, fora customer who has a profile that associates them with music, a vendorgroup that includes merchants that offer goods and/or servicesassociated with music may be associated with the customer's newlycreated line of credit. Additionally, considering the previous examplewith the college student, card issuer 1200 may provide a vendor groupincluding the college's merchants, as well as merchants that providegroceries, such as selected supermarkets. As can be seen, a number ofoptions are available to card issuer 1200 for selecting vendors fortarget customers.

Once credit card issuer 1200 has selected the appropriate vendor to beassociated the customer's new bucket(s), they may be added to a vendortable that is unique to the customer (Step 328A). Vendor tables enablecard issuer 1200 to track which vendors are associated with a particularcustomer. Card issuer 1200 maintains a master list stored in a vendortable corresponding to the issuer. The master list includes all vendorsthat have a partnership agreement with card issuer 1200. The partnershipenables customer's of card issuer 1200 to use the extra lines of creditat sites associated with these vendors, provided the customer isauthorized to purchase goods and services at these sites. Vendor tablesmay be stored in database 1300, or may be stored remotely. Thus, as canbe seen, the invention can provide card issuer 1200 strategic controlover the types of vendors associated with a customer's new credit lines.Once each selected vendor is added to the customer's vendor table,processing is forwarded to Step 348A, described later.

Although maintaining a customer's vendor selections may give strategiccontrol to a card issuer, in order to promote use of the extra creditlines, customer-controlled, vendor selection may also be provided.Converse to having total control over a customer's vendor selection, acard issuer may allow customer input in choosing vendors. If this is thecase, the customer may be presented with an option to select vendors(Step 330A).

The process of presenting vendor options to a customer is based on themedium the customer is communicating with credit card issuer 1200.Response vehicle system 1100 processes vendor option presentationinformation from credit card issuer 1200, and forwards them to thecustomers through communications channel 1400. For instance, customer1010 may be presented with a web page including the vendor selectionoptions. Response vehicle 1110 would send the page to customer 1010after receiving the appropriate vendor information from credit cardissuer 1200. Additionally, if a customer is communicating with creditcard issuer 1200 through convention telephonic channels, responsevehicle 1120 would present the vendor options to customer 1020 usingstandard telephone techniques.

If the customer decides not to participate in the vendor selections(Step 332A; NO), card issuer may select the vendors for the customerbased on the customer's profile (Step 326A). On the other hand, cardissuer 1200 may also apply each vendor in the master list to thecustomer's vendor table, (Step 346A), enabling the customer full accessto all participating vendors. If the customer decides to participate invendor selections (Step 332A; YES), card issuer may offer the customerselected vendor groups for selection (Step 334A). Using this option,although the customer is selecting vendors, the card issuer stillmaintains some control over vendor selections based on the vendor groupsit offers to the customer. For example, if card issuer 1200 determinesthat a customer has a higher credit risk than other profiled customers,the vendor groups offered to the high risk customer may not includevendors that are offered to the lower risk customers. Vendor groups maybe categorized for different customer risk profiles depending on variousfactors, including the type or average cost of goods and servicesoffered by the vendors. This option enables credit card issuer 1200 tocontrol vendor relationships with selected customers while stillproviding options to the customer. Once the selections are made by thecustomer, they are processed such that the selected vendors in theselected vendor groups are added to the customer's vendor table (Step336A). Processing then continues to Step 348A, described later.

Referring back to Step 320A, in the event card issuer 1200 does notimplement customer profiles, (Step 320A; No), customers may still havethe option to participate in vendor selections. If card issuer 1200supports this option (Step 338A; YES), the customer is presented withthe entire master list of vendors in partnership with card issuer 1200(Step 340A). A customer may select from the list and the selections areappropriately added to the customer's vendor table (Steps 342A and344A). Processing is then forwarded to Step 348A. However, in the eventcard issuer does not support customer input for vendor selections (Step338A; NO), every vendor in the master list is added to the customer'svendor table (Step 346A), and processing is passed to Step 348A.

Once credit card issuer 1200 has received and processed all theresponses from the customers regarding vendors and acceptance of theextra credit line, notification messages are generated (Step 348A). Asindicated before, the notification messages are passed to the customer'sthrough the appropriate response vehicle and indicate to the customersthat their extra credit line is now available. The notifications mayindicate to the customers the available balance, the vendors associatedwith each new credit line, as well as other known credit cardinformation.

It should be noted that although the steps illustrated in FIG. 3A may berelated to those customer categories where the customer may respondimmediately to offers, the steps may be applied to the other customercategories as well. That is, for conventional mail customers, the offerspresented in the mail product from issuer 1200 may include predeterminedvendor groups that the customer may select. Alternatively, the offer maydesignate vendors for the extra credit line(s). Accordingly, when thecustomer accepts the offer, either the predetermined vendor selectionsmade by issuer 1200 would be activated or the selections indicated inthe customer's response would be activated.

In addition to associating one or more vendors to one or more extralines of credit when these credit lines are established, features of thepresent invention enable a customer to dynamically edit the vendorprofile associated with their credit card account. FIG. 3C illustratesan exemplary process for editing a vendor profile for a customer's extracredit line(s). Once extra credit line(s) are established for acustomer's credit card account, the customer may edit the vendor(s)associated with these credit lines. To edit a vendor profile, a customercontacts the credit card issuer 1200 through the appropriate responsevehicle associated with the medium the customer chooses to use (i.e.,website, email, telephone, etc.) (Step 310C). From there, the customerindicates to the credit card issuer 1200 that they wish to edit theirvendor group profile (Step 312C). The customer may then indicate whetherthey want to add or delete vendors to/from the vendor profile (Step314C). If the customer decides to delete vendors their vendor profile(Step 314C; DELETE), the customer may be queried to select the vendor(s)they want removed. This removal process may be performed in a number ofdifferent manners. One way would be for credit card issuer 1200 toprovide the list of vendor(s) associated with a customer's designatedextra credit line. The customer may then select specific vendors to beremoved from the list. Alternately, the customer may simply provide tocredit card issuer 1200 the vendor(s) when want removed from theirvendor profile. Once credit card issuer 1200 receives the vendor(s) thecustomer selected fro removal (Step 316C), credit card issuer 1200delete these selected vendors from the vendor table associated with thedesignated extra credit line (Step 318C). From there, the customer maybe queried whether there are any more changes they wish to make to theirvendor profile (Step 340C). If not (Step 340C; NO), processing ends(Step 342C). However, if the customer decides to make additional changes(Step 340C; YES), the edit process is looped back to Step 314C forfurther processing.

Returning to Step 314C, if the customer decides to add vendor(s) to aselected extra credit line (Step 314C; ADD), credit card issuer 1200accesses the master vendor list and the vendor table associated with thecustomer (Step 330C). Once the vendor information is accessed, creditcard issuer 1200 determines whether a customer profile option has beenimplemented (Step 332C). In the event card issuer 1200 does notimplement customer profiles, (Step 332C; NO), the customer may stillhave the option to participate in vendor selections. If card issuer 1200supports this option (Step 360C; YES), the customer is presented withthe entire master list of vendors in partnership with card issuer 1200(Step 334C). The customer may select from the list of vendors and theselections are appropriately added to the customer's vendor table (Steps336C and 338C). Processing is then forwarded to Step 340C to determinewhether the customer wishes to make more changes to their vendorprofile. However, in the event card issuer does not support customerinput for vendor selections (Step 360C; NO), every vendor in the masterlist is added to the customer's vendor table (Step 362C), and processingis passed to Step 340C.

Referring back to Step 332C, if it is determined that customer profilesare being used by card issuer 1200 (Step 332C; YES), the profile for thecustomer is accessed (Step 344C). Along with profiles, card issuer 1200may also control whether the customer has a choice in selecting vendorsfor their extra line(s) of credit during the editing process (Step346C). If card issuer 1200 denies selections by customers, theappropriate vendor groups may be selected automatically, based on thecustomer's profile (Step 348C). Once credit card issuer 1200 hasselected the appropriate vendor to be associated the customer'sdesignated extra credit line(s), they may be added to the customer'svendor table (Step 350C). Accordingly, a customer may allow credit cardissuer 1200 to automatically update their vendor profile, thus ensuringany vendors that have been approved for the customer's extra creditline(s), based on the customer's profile, are added to the customer'svendor profile. Of course, credit card issuer may also modify acustomer's vendor profile without customer interaction. In anotheraspect of the present invention, credit card issuer 1200 mayperiodically perform credit worthiness checks on a customer's creditcard account, and based on these worthiness checks, vendors may be addedor deleted from a customer's vendor profile associated with the extraline(s) of credit. The customers may be notified of the changes to theirvendor profiles through the various mediums supported by the responsevehicle 1100. Once the selected vendor(s) are added to a customer'svendor table, processing is directed to Step 340C to determine if thecustomer wishes to make more changes to their vendor profile.

Returning back to Step 346C, in the event credit card issuer 1200 doesallow customer input in choosing vendors (Step 346C; YES), the customermay be presented with an option to select vendors from the master listor designated vendor groups presented based on the customer's profileinformation (Step 352C). The process of presenting vendor options to acustomer is similar to the features described with reference to theprocess shown in FIG. 3A.

If the customer decides not to participate in the vendor selections(Step 354C; NO), card issuer may select the vendors for the customerbased on the customer's profile (Step 348C). On the other hand, cardissuer 1200 may also apply each vendor in the master list to thecustomer's vendor table, (Step 362C), enabling the customer full accessto all participating vendors. If the customer decides to participate invendor selections (Step 354C; YES), card issuer may offer the customerselected vendor groups for selection (Step 356C). Once the selectionsare made by the customer, they are processed such that the selectedvendors in the selected vendor groups are added to the customer's vendortable (Step 358C). Once the appropriate vendors are added to thecustomer's vendor table, processing then continues to determine whetheradditional changes to the customer's vendor profile is requested (Step340C).

Once credit card issuer 1200 has received and processed all theresponses from the customer regarding the modification to their vendorprofile, a notification message may be generated to indicate therespective changes to the customer. As discussed before, thenotification message may be passed to the customer through anappropriate response vehicle. The notification may also indicate to thecustomer the available balance, the vendors associated with each extracredit line, as well as other known credit card information.

FIG. 4 illustrates another exemplary environment 400 in which featuresand principles of the present invention may be implemented. FIG. 4 maybe implemented with a plurality of vendor sites and web servers, as wellas a number of credit card issuers and associated web servers.Environment 400 includes customer 410, network 412, vendor web server414, vendor backend system 415, vendor site 416, acquiring bank 418,interchange network 420, credit card issuer 422, and credit card issuerweb server 424.

Network 412 may represent any known communication network that allowsthe exchange of information electronically. For example, network 412 mayrepresent the Internet or a combination of local area networks or publicnetworks connecting to the Internet.

Customer 410 may be a customer who has a credit card account with creditcard issuer 422 or another credit card issuer. Customer 410 connects tonetwork 412 with a personal computer (PC) or other device (e.g.,wireless phone, PDS, thin client, etc.) to access web sites operated byweb servers 414 and 424. Customer 410 may also be a customer who isphysically at vendor site 416 performing purchase transactions at apoint of sale terminal.

Vendor site 416 may be a merchant's location, such as an outlet store,where customers purchase goods and/or services directly from themerchant. Vendor site 416 processes a large number of purchasetransactions from a variety of customers, including customer 410. Vendorweb server 414 operates a retail web site where customers may purchasegoods and/or services offered by vendor 415 on-line through network 412.Vendor backend system 415 processes purchase transactions received atthe vendor's web site from vendor web server 415, and forwards thetransactions to acquiring bank 418.

Acquiring bank 418 may represent an institution that processes allfinancial transactions for vendor site 416 and web server 414. Acquiringbank 418 receives a great number of transactions from each of the vendorsites for a diverse group of customers. The customers may purchase goodsand/or services using credit cards issued from different credit cardissuers including credit card issuer 422. Acquiring bank forwards thesecredit card transactions to interchange network 420 for processing.

Interchange network 420 may be a commercially available interchangenetwork, such as a VISA or MASTERCARD network. Interchange network 420processes transaction information received from acquiring bank 418.Network 420 filters the transactions based on the type of credit cardsused by customers initiating the transactions at vendor sites 416 and414. Network 420 may also filter transactions originating from vendorsites that are accessed from card issuer 422's branded web sites.Interchange network 420 forwards the filtered transaction information tothe appropriate credit card issuer, including credit card issuer 422.

Credit card issuer 422 issues credit cards to customers and maintainseach customer's account. Card issuer 422 receives and authorizestransaction information from interchange network 420 and web server 424.Card issuer 422 also generates and presents offers for extra creditlines to specified customers.

Web server 424 operates web sites for issuer 422. The web sites includesretail sites from which customer 410 may purchase goods and/or services.Server 424 exchanges information with issuer 422 for processing thesepurchase transactions. Web server 424 may also process purchasetransactions from customers who are not holders of credit cards issuedby issuer 422. Web sites operated by web server 424 may include sitesthat offer goods and/or services directly from card issuer 422. Thesesites may also be sites that are operated by a vendor web server, butbranded as a web site offered by card issuer 422.

FIG. 5A illustrates an exemplary process associated with authorizing acharge made by customer 410 in environment 400. The features of FIG. 5Amay be implemented in connection with credit cards of the presentinvention, including multi-line credit cards and credit cards withembedded credit line(s). For purpose of illustration, FIG. 5A will bedescribed below with reference to a credit card that is upgraded with anextra line of credit. FIG. 5, however, may also be implemented inconnection with credit cards including credit cards with multiple linesof extra credit.

As illustrated in FIG. 5A, customer attempts a purchase transaction ateither vendor site 416 or a web site operated by web servers 414 or 424(Step 50A). If the transaction is at vendor site 416, the customer maypresent their credit card at a point of sale (POS) terminal to completethe purchase. Personnel at site 416 may process the credit card by“swiping” the credit card through a credit card processing instrument atthe POS terminal. The POS terminal then generates transactioninformation specific to the attempted purchase, including the customer'scredit card information. The POS terminal sends the transactioninformation to acquiring bank 418 through an electronic link (Step520A). If the transaction is attempted at a web site, the customer wouldpresent their credit card information to web server 414, 424 using a webbrowser or another application. Web server 414 forwards the customer'scredit card information, along with the purchase data, to backend system415 for processing. Backend system 415 processes all purchasetransactions received at web server 414. Web server 424 may similarlyuse a backend system (not shown) to perform similar operations. Thetransaction information, including the customer's credit card data, ispackaged and may be sent to acquiring bank 418 for vendor basedtransactions. Transactions associated with web server 424 may also usesimilar acquiring banks (not shown) that would operate in a mannerconsistent with bank 418.

Acquiring bank 418 processes the transaction information and forwards itto interchange network 420 (Step 530A). Once received, interchangenetwork 420 filters the transaction information from other transactionsreceived from other vendor sites. The purchase transaction from customer410 would be filtered and may be aggregated with other transactionsinvolving credit cards issued from card issuer 422. Interchange network420 then sends the transaction information to issuer 422 forauthorization (Step 540A).

Credit card issuer 422 receives the transaction information, anddetermines whether the purchase should be authorized (Step 550A).Details regarding the authorization process is described with referenceto the description of FIG. 5B. Card issuer 422 then sends the results ofthe authorization process back to interchange network for distributionto vendor sites 414, 416 or to web server 424 (Step 560). Vendor sites414, 416 and server 424 either completes or denies the transaction basedon the results of the authorization process.

FIG. 5B illustrates an exemplary process associated with card issuer 422checking the validity of the purchase transaction of customer 410. Asshown in FIG. 5B, card issuer 422 receives transaction informationassociated with customer 410 from interchange network 420 (Step 50B).After performing well known security checks regarding the customer'saccount, (i.e., verifying the customer's account number), card issuer422 then determines whether customer 410 has an extra line of credit(Step 512B). If it is determined that the customer does not haveadditional buckets associated with their account, processing isforwarded to step 514B. At step 514B, card issuer 422 may generate anoffer to customer 410, in accordance with features and principles of thepresent invention. At this point, card issuer 422 may provide an optionto credit card holders to obtain extra credit on their existing card.Prior to presenting the offer to customer 410, credit card issuer 422determines whether customer 410 is “eligible” for such benefits. Theprocess may mimic the functions previously described with reference toFIG. 3A. If customer 410 is not eligible, no offer will be presented,and processing will continue at Step 522B. However, if the customer isdetermined to be eligible, an offer for extra credit is sent to theappropriate site for delivery to the customer. The manner in which thequery may be presented to the customer may be based on the site accessedby customer 410. For instance, in the event customer 410 is located at aPOS terminal at vendor site 416, the query may be presented by a clerkoperating the POS terminal. Alternately, if the customer has accessed aweb site to purchase goods, web servers 414 and 424 may present andprocess the customer's response automatically.

Several options may be available to card issuer 422 in the event thecustomer is performing a transaction at vendor site 416. The message maybe displayed at the clerk's POS terminal, flagging them to present theoffer to customer 410. Upon receiving the customer's response, the clerkmay select to notify card issuer 422 using the POS terminal. The clerk'snotification may follow the normal channels of communications indicatedin FIG. 4. Alternately, another option may be to direct the customer tothe vendor's customer service desk or a kiosk computer located at thevendor's site. This option may be less obtrusive to customers waiting inlines at the vendor's POS terminals. The processing of the customer'sdecision to accept extra credit may be performed at these locationsafter the purchase has been completed. Another option may be to printthe offer on a purchase receipt. The receipt may include a telephonenumber or URL that the customer may use to obtain extra credit line(s)for their existing card.

As can be seen, a wide variety of options are available for card issuerto present its query to customer 410, and are not limited by the aboveexamples.

In order to process and present the offer to a customer, the POSterminals may include the necessary software and hardware required forcommunicating with credit card issuer 422. For instance, the extracredit offer or message may be appended to a transaction authorizationmessage issued by credit card issuer 422. The POS terminal would receivethe information from credit card issuer 422 and filter the extra creditoffer from the authorization message. The offer may subsequently bedisplayed on a terminal or it may be printed on a sales receipt, asindicated above.

Once the customer responds to the offer, the response is sent to issuer422 (Step 516B). If the customer accepted the offer, the customer'saccount is modified to reflect the new credit lines in accordance to theprinciples of the invention. Processing is then forwarded to Step 528A.In the event customer 410 declined the offer, the purchase is checkedfor authorization against the customer's general purpose credit line(Step 522B).

However, in the event customer 410 does have extra lines of credit ontheir existing credit card, a check is made to determine whether thevendor associated with the transaction has a partnership agreement withcard issuer 422 (Step 520B). The vendor associated with the transactionmay be associated with a site that is accessed from card issuer'sbranded web site operated by server 424. In order to determine if thevendor is included in card issuer's master vendor list, vendoridentification information included in the transaction information sentfrom interchange network 420 may be compared to those stored in cardissuer's master vendor list.

In the event that the vendor is not included in the master vendor list(Step 520B; NO), issuer 422 may decide to apply the attempted purchaseto customer 410's general purpose line of credit. In such a case, thegeneral credit line is analyzed to determine whether the are sufficientfunds to complete the transaction (Step 522B). If there are sufficientfunds, credit card issuer 422 validates the transaction, applies thepurchase amount to the balance of the customer's general purpose creditline and sends notification of the authorized transaction to interchangenetwork 420 for delivery to the appropriate vendor site (Step 524B).However, if the purchase amount exceeds the available balance associatedwith customer 410's general line of credit, the transaction is notauthorized (Step 526B). Notification of the unauthorized transaction isforwarded to interchange network 420 for delivery to the vendor site.

Referring back to step 520B, if it is determined that vendor site 416,414 (or a vendor associated with a web site operated by server 424) isincluded in the vendor master list (Step 520B; YES), an analysis isperformed to determine whether customer 410 has an extra credit linethat is associated with vendor groups (Step 528B). If the vendor groupoption is associated with the customer's account, processing isforwarded to Step 546B, described later. If the customer's account isnot associated with vendor groups (Step 528B; NO), card issuer 422analyzes the customer's extra credit line(s) for vendor associations andbalance amount(s) (Step 530B). This analysis may include determiningwhether the customer has more than one extra credit line and theassociation of the extra credit line(s) with the vendor. For example, ifcustomer 410 has two extra credit lines, card issuer 422 may determinewhich bucket the purchase at site 414, 416 and 424, is to be applied. Asindicated previously, for purposes of illustration of the processdescribed in FIG. 5A, it is assumed that customer 410 has only oneadditional bucket associated with their credit card account.

Once analysis of the customer's account is complete, and card issuer 422determines that the purchase amount does not exceed the availablebalance for the customer's extra credit line, the transaction isauthorized (Steps 532B; NO and 534B). Credit card issuer 422 validatesthe transaction, applies the purchase amount to the customer's extracredit line balance and sends notification of the authorized transactionto interchange network 420 for notification to the appropriate vendorsite. However, in the event the purchase amount exceeds extra creditline's available balance (Step 532B; YES), the customer may be queriedto apply the purchase to their general purpose credit line (Step 536B).Alternately, card issuer 422 may deny authorization for the extra creditline, and automatically apply the purchase to the customer's generalcredit line (Step 537B). In the event the customer does not accept theoffer to use their general credit line for the purchase (Step 538B; NO),the transaction is not authorized and notification is sent tointerchange network 420 for appropriate delivery to the customer. But,if customer 410 accepts the offer to use their general credit line (Step538B; YES), card issuer determines whether a credit line sharing optionis activated for the customer's account (Step 542B). Credit line sharingmay be an option offered to customers that allows purchases applied toone bucket to be shared by other buckets. This option is demonstratedwith the example presented in Table I. In particular, Table Iillustrates an exemplary scenario associated with customer 410attempting to purchase goods at vendor site 416. TABLE I Example ofCredit Line Sharing 1^(st) Bucket 2^(nd) Bucket Purchase AvailableBalance-General Available Balance- Amount Purpose Credit Line ExtraCredit Line $0 $1000 $100 Option 1 $200 $800 $100 Option 2 $200 $900 $0

The 1st bucket is associated with customer 410's general purpose creditline and the 2^(nd) bucket with an extra credit line implemented as aprivate label credit line associated with vendor site 416. In theexample of Table I, customer 410 attempts to make a $200 purchase atvendor site 416. Option 1 illustrates the process where the credit linesharing option is not activated for customer 410. As shown, the $200purchase is applied entirely to the 1^(st) bucket (reducing theavailable balance from $1000 to $800) leaving the 2^(nd) bucket'sbalance intact (at $100). Option 2 illustrates the process where thecredit line sharing option is active and available to customer 410. Inthis option, the purchase amount is first applied to the 2^(nd) bucket'savailable balance, with any remaining amount then applied to the 1^(st)bucket. As shown, the $200 purchase is applied to the 2^(nd) bucketcredit line, leaving $100 of the purchase to be covered by the 1^(st)bucket. As a result, the remaining balance for the customer's 1^(st) and2^(nd) buckets is $900 and $0, respectively. As can be seen, the creditline sharing option allows credit card issuer 422 to offer customersversatility in the use of their credit card balances, while stillmaintain control over the customers' accounts. Card issuer 422 mayselectively offer the sharing option to customers automatically, orelect to have customers decide whether they want to implement thisoption.

Therefore, if the credit line sharing option is activated (Step 542B;YES), the process associated with credit line sharing is performed (Step544B). In the event the sharing option is not activated for customer 410(step 542B; NO), the purchase is automatically applied to the customer'sgeneral purpose credit line or 1^(st) bucket (Step 522B).

Along with checking the authorization of transactions performed bycustomer 410, credit card issuer may allow interactive operations withcustomer 410 to take place during the transaction process. For example,card issuer 422 may allow customer 410 to edit their vendor groupprofile associated with their extra credit line. Steps 546B through 556Bof FIG. 5B illustrates this option. Referring back to Step 528B, in theevent customer 410 has vendor groups associated with their account (Step528B; YES), credit card issuer access the vendor table associated withcustomer 410 (Step 546B). As previously described with reference to FIG.3A, the customer's vendor table may be stored in a central databaseoperated by card issuer 422. Card issuer 422 then determines whethervendor site 414, 416 or the vendor site associated with server 424, isincluded in the customer's vendor table (Step 548B). If the vendor is inthe vendor table, processing may proceed to authorize the transactionfor the customer's extra credit line (Steps 548B; YES, 530B). However,in the event the vendor is not in the customer's vendor table (Step548B; NO), the customer may be queried to add the vendor to its vendorgroup (Step 552B). The manner in which the query may be presented to thecustomer may depend on the vendor site accessed by customer 410.

In particular, as previously indicated in the description of Step 514B,in the event customer 410 is located at a POS terminal at vendor site416, the query may be presented by a clerk operating the POS terminal.Alternately, if the customer has accessed a web site to purchase goods,web servers 414 and 424 may present and process the customer's responseautomatically. The message may be displayed at the clerk's POS terminal,flagging them to present the question to customer 410. Upon receivingthe customer's response, the clerk may notify card issuer 422 using thePOS terminal. Alternately, the customer may be directed to the vendor'scustomer service desk or a local kiosk computer located at the vendor'ssite. The editing of the customer's vendor group table may be performedat these locations after the purchase has been completed. Another optionmay be to print the request on the purchase receipt. The receipt mayinclude a telephone number or web site URL that the customer may use toedit their vendor group. As can be seen, a wide variety of options areavailable for card issuer to present its query to customer 410, and arenot limited by the above examples.

Referring back to Step 552B, if customer 410 accepted the option to edittheir vendor group table, (Step 554B; YES), vendor 414, 416 or thevendor associated with server 424, is added to the customer's vendortable (Step 556B). Processing is then forwarded back to Step 530B tocontinue the authorization process.

Allowing a customer to edit their vendor groups may be an option thatcustomers and card issuer 422 decide to implement. However, the securityof activated vendor groups may be an area of concern for card issuer 422and customers alike. Therefore, the dynamic editing of vendor groups maybe removed by merely bypassing the query process, and automaticallydenying transactions with vendors that are not included in a customer'svendor group (Step 550B).

As described, the present invention allows customer's who access vendorsites physically or through other channels, such as the Internet, theversatility of using their extra credit lines, as well as have existingcredit cards modified to include additional lines of credit.

Credit card issuer 422 may operate their own web sites for the sales ofgoods and/or services. The card issuer's web sites may be financialbased sites that offer the credit cards and other financial services.Additionally, these sites may provide goods and/or services from vendorseither directly or through a vendor operated site that is branded as acard issuer's site. Allowing card holders to purchase goods and/orservices through a card issuer's branded web site may present a saferenvironment for on-line purchasing. That is, card issuers may target andoffer extra credit lines to groups of customers who are hesitant topurchase goods and/or services on-line for security reasons. Thesecustomers may have a concern that their credit card numbers may bestolen by unauthorized individuals who eavesdrop such transactions. Acard issuer that operates its own branded sales site may appeal to thesehesitant customers. A customer may feel more secure in purchasing suchgoods and/or services from a site that is operated by the credit cardissuer that has issued the credit cards that they hold.

There are a variety of ways card issuers can process transactionsoccurring at card issuer branded web sites. Transactions from customerswho access a web site operated by card issuer web server 424 may beprocessed in the same manner as described in FIGS. 5A and 5B.Additionally, other methods and environments may be implemented.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary environment 600 in which purchasetransactions from extra credit card holders may be implemented, inaccordance with another aspect of the present invention. Environment 600includes a customer 610, web server 612, credit card issuer's web siteproduct database 618, customer registration database 616, credit cardissuer's management information system (MIS) 620, secondary web server622, secondary backend system 624, master product database 626,vendor/manufacturer site 628, interchange network 630, credit cardissuer authorization system 632 and credit card issuer bucket system634.

Customer 610 represents a customer who may use a personal computer (PC)or other device (e.g., wireless phone, PDA, thin client, etc.) computersystem with a network interface to access a web site operated by webserver 612 through the Internet (not shown). Customer 610 may hold anexisting credit card issued from a credit card issuer or issued fromanother credit card issuer.

Web server 612 operates a web site that offers good and/or services tocustomers. for purposes of illustration, the web site may include abranded web site that include logos and identifying features of thecredit card issuer. The web site may include, but is not limited to, ahome page that include links to web pages that offer goods and/orservices to customers. In accordance with one aspect of the invention,web server 610 is maintained and controlled through a secondary webserver 622 that brands the web site as a credit card issuer web site.

Customer registration database 616 includes customer information relatedto credit card accounts, including extra credit lines added to eachcustomer's existing credit card account. Web site product database 618includes information related to the types of goods and/or serviceoffered by the credit card issuer, at the web site operated by server612.

Management information system (MIS) 620 processes the information storedin database 616, including extra credit line account numbers. MIS system620 also performs an offer decisioning process, such as that describedwith reference to FIG. 7A.

Secondary web server 622 may be a server that manages the operationsperformed by server 612. This includes the management of the types ofinformation displayed at the web site and the exchange process of ordersreceived at the site. Secondary backend system 624 processes receivedorders, creates authorization requests and receives results of theauthorization requests, billing functions and customer serviceoperations. Backend system forwards the selected information to anappropriate entity it has a link to. For instance, customer servicetransactions could be forwarded to entities that are designed to handlesuch transactions.

Master product database 626 receives updates on product information anduploads it to server 612. Vendor/manufacturer site 628 receivesprocessed orders from secondary backend system 624. Site 628 fills theorders and ship goods that customer 610 may have ordered from web server612.

Interchange network 630 receives authorization requests from secondarybackend system 630, and filters the request based on the type of creditcard used to purchase orders at the web site operated by server 612.Network 630 sends requests associated with customers using credit cardsissued by credit card issuer to authorization system 632. System 632performs transaction authorization operations for the credit cardissuer, including extra credit line authorizations. Credit card issuerbucket system 634 performs account settlement functions associated withthe orders processed by backend system 624.

Details of the features and operations of the elements illustrated inFIG. 6 will be described with reference to FIGS. 7A and 7B.

FIG. 7A illustrates an exemplary process associated with a purchasetransaction attempted at a web site branded by a credit card issuer. Thebranded web site may target customers who have an extra credit lineadded to their existing credit cards issued by the credit card issuer.However, the goods and/or services offered at the web site may bepurchased by customers using a variety of different credit cards,including cards not issued by the card issuer hosting the site. Acustomer may be attracted to the branded web site by offers for extralines of credit generated by a credit card issuer.

FIG. 7C shows an exemplary offer 710C for an extra line of credit. Offer710C represents an offer that may be sent to a customer usingconventional mail techniques or by other communication techniques, suchas email. Similar offers may also be presented through a banneradvertisement or web page. The offer 710C may instruct the customer tovisit the credit card issuer's branded web site to obtain an extra lineof credit. The offer may also include the amount of credit that isavailable to the customer. As shown in the exemplary offer of FIG. 7C,the customer is offered an extra line of credit of $250.00. The offer710C may also indicate to the customer that the extra line of credit isrestricted to purchases from the credit card issuer's branded web site.However, as described previously, the extra line of credit may also beassociated with a plurality of vendors or vendor groups. The offerillustrated in FIG. 7C is exemplary, and should not be consideredlimiting. Any number of offers may be presented, with various terms andconditions associated with the extra line of credit offered to thecustomer. For instance, the offer 710C may be adjusted seasonally. Thatis, the terms and conditions associated with offer 710C may be based ona holiday season, such as Christmas. The $250.00 extra line of creditoffered to the customer in offer 710C may be reduced after the holidayseason. Accordingly, credit card issuers may vary their offers based notonly on a customer's credit worthiness, but the time of year as well. Anumber of factors other than the time of year may also contribute to theadjustment of an offer and are not limited to those described above.

Referring again to FIG. 7A, the process begins when customer 610 accessthe web site using standard network accessing techniques (Step 710A).For instance, customer 610 may access the web site by entering aselected URL with their local browser. Additionally, customer 610 mayhave selected a link that was presented at another web page previouslyviewed by the customer. The customer may then browse the web site,selecting items and links that may direct the customer to other webpages that offer selected goods and/or services for purchase (Step712A). As the customer browses and shops at the web site, they mayselect goods that are added to a virtual shopping cart. The virtualshopping cart acts as a normal supermarket shopping cart, whereby goodsoff shelves are held while shopping. The customer may remove items fromthe virtual shopping cart just as if they were shopping at a physicalvendor site. Features of the virtual shopping cart may include a runningtally of total purchases in the shopping cart. Also, individual items inthe cart may be reviewed at the customer's leisure. A customer may savethe shopping cart, such that in the event the customer leaves the website without purchasing any goods and/or services, the items in the cartwill remain until the site is again visited by the customer.

Once the customer has completed shopping at the web site, the customermay decide to check out. The customer may select an icon or button barthat initiates the check out process. (Step 714A). A billing informationpage is then presented to the customer, where credit card information isrequested. For this example, the customer may hold a credit card issuedby the credit card issuer branded at the web site. The customer entersthe appropriate billing information (Step 716A), including their creditcard data and attempts to complete the transaction by selecting anappropriate icon or button bar.

Server 612 recognizes the customer's request to complete the transactionand redirects processing to a credit card issuer offer decisionprocesses (Step 718A). The offer decisioning process may be performed atcredit card issuer management information system 620 or at other creditcard issuer systems that have access to customer account information.The session with customer 610 and server 612 is maintained while thedecisoning process is performed. Once management information systemreceives the appropriate credit card information, it analyzes the cardinformation against data stored in customer registration database 616(Step 720A). Based on the analysis, system 620 determines whether thecustomer has previously been offered an extra credit line through thecredit card issuer's branded web site (Step 722A). This may bedetermined by server 612 maintaining information in database 616regarding which customers were presented a selected page including theextra credit offer from the credit card issuer.

In the event the customer has received the offer previously (Step 722A;NO), system 620 determines whether the customer accepted any extracredit lines presented in the previous offer (Step 724A). In the eventthe customer did accept the offer (Step 724A; YES), a reminder messageis presented the customer indicating that their extra credit line wouldbe used for the attempted purchase. Processing is then forwarded to Step734A, described later. However, if the customer did not accept the offer(Step 724A; NO), an extra credit line indicator is set to ‘N’, andprocessing is directed back to the web site operated by server 612 (Step736A).

Referring back to Step 724A, in the event the customer has not beenoffered an extra credit line, (Step 722A; YES), an extra credit lineoffer page is generated and presented to the customer (Step 728A). Theoffer may be generated based on the features previously describedherein. The offers may also be generic and directed to all customers ofthe card issuer hosting the web site. Additionally, the offers may betailored for customers who are not holders of credit cards issued by thecard issuer hosting the web site. The offer may allow the credit cardissuer to obtain new customers by advertising the benefits of owning acredit card with multiple lines of credit. If the customer is not aholder of a credit card issued by the card issuer, the customer would beissued a new card with multiple lines of credit or a new card with ageneral purpose credit line and the option to add extra lines of creditat a later time.

FIG. 7D shows an exemplary web page including an offer 710D for an extraline of credit. Offer 710D represents an offer that may be presented toa customer shopping at the credit card issuer's branded web site. Asshown in FIG. 7D, the offer may include the amount of credit that isavailable to the customer, as well as the terms and conditions of theextra credit line. This may include interest rate information,activation fees and minimum payment information (not shown). The offermay instruct the customer to select an icon or button bar to accept theterms and conditions of the offer for an extra credit line. The offer710D may also indicate to the customer that the extra line of credit isrestricted to purchases from the credit card issuer's branded web site.The offer illustrated in FIG. 7D is exemplary and should not beconsidered limiting. Any number of offers may be presented, with variousterms and conditions associated with the extra line of credit offered tothe customer. Additionally, the graphically representation of the offeris not limited to that shown in FIG. 7D. Of course, any number ofgraphical and textual variations to the offer 710D may be chosen by acredit card issuer and presented in the offer web page.

Once the customer's response to the offer is captured (Step 720A),system 620 determines whether the customer accepted the offer or not(Step 732A). In the event the customer declined the offer, an extracredit line indicator is set to “N”, and processing is redirected backto the web site operated by server 612 (Step 736A). However, if thecustomer did accept the offer (Step 732A; YES), the extra credit lineindicator is set to “Y”, and processing is directed back to the web siteoperated by server 612 (Step 734A).

Processing of a customer's acceptance to include an additional line ofcredit on an existing credit card may be processed a plurality of ways.For example, the extra credit line indicator being set to “Y” mayinitiate an updating operation at credit card issuer bucket system 634.System 634 may update a central database in order to edit the customer'saccount to include an additional bucket for the extra line of credit.This process may be implemented by using additional segments in acentral database, similar to the process previously described withreference to FIG. 3A. Once updated, authorization system 632 andmanagement information system 620 are updated with the new accountinformation. Once the customer's account is updated with the new bucket,processing is then directed to the web site hosted by the credit cardissuer.

Once the web site receives the information from management informationsystem 620, it determines if the offer was successfully completed (Step738A). In the event the offer was not successfully completed (Step 738A;NO), an error message is displayed to the customer and a retry option ispresented (Step 742A). If the customer decides not to retry the order(Step 744A; NO), the order is not completed and the purchase transactionis ended (Step 746A). However, if the customer decides to retry theorder (Step 744A; YES), processing is forward back to Step 718A foranother attempt at processing the order.

Referring back to Step 738A, in the event the offer process did completesuccessfully (Step 738A; YES), a check out process is initiated, such asthat described below with reference to FIG. 7B.

FIG. 7B illustrates an exemplary check out process that may be performedat a credit card issuer's branded web site. If the customer attempts tocheck out and the offer decisioning process was successfully completed(Step 710B), server 612 checks the extra credit line indicator todetermine whether the purchase transaction is related to a customer'sextra credit line (Step 714B). If it is not (Step 714B; NO), processingis forwarded to Step 723B to check the authorization of the generalpurpose credit line. However, if the purchase is an extra credit linetransaction (Step 714B; YES), web server 612 forwards the appropriatebilling information to secondary web server 622, which then forwards theinformation to secondary backend system 624. Secondary backend system624 then generates an authorization request based on the extra creditline information received in the customer's order, and sends the requestto interchange network 630 for authorization by the credit card issuer.

Once credit card issuer authorization system 632 receives thetransaction information, it performs authorization checks against thecustomer's extra credit line. This may include checking balances,account information, expiration date information and any other knownauthorization functions needed to ensure the purchase is valid.Authorization system 632 produces an authorization result, and sends theresult back to secondary backend system 624 through network 630.Secondary backend system passes the results data back to the secondaryweb server 622 for continued processing. If the result received fromsystem 632 indicates a valid transaction (Step 716B; YES), the check outprocess may continue (Step 724B). Thereafter, the customer's order iscompleted and a completion page is presented to the customer indicatingthe results of the purchase (Step 728B).

In the event authorization system 632 did not authorize the extra creditline purchase attempted by customer 610, an authorization denial page isdisplayed to the customer (Step 718B). Additionally, the customer ispresented with an offer to utilize their general line ofcredit. If thecustomer declines to use their general credit line (Step 720B; NO), anorder failure page is displayed to the customer indicating that thepurchase was not processed. In one aspect of the invention, the customermay also be provided with a link to try and use another credit cardissued from a different card issuer than the one hosting the web site(Step 722B).

Referring back to step 720B, in the event the customer accepted theoffer to use their general credit line (Step 720B; YES), authorizationof the general credit line is determined. As previously indicated, extracredit system 632 determines whether the customer's general credit linemay be used for the attempted purchase. If authorization failed (Step723B; NO), an order failure page is displayed to the customer indicatingfailure of the attempted purchase. In one aspect of the invention, thecustomer may also be provided with a link to try and use another creditcard issued from a different card issuer than the one hosting the website (Step 722B). However, if the general credit line was authorized(Step 723B; YES), the check out process may continue (Step 724B).Thereafter, the customer's order is completed and a page is presented tothe customer indicating the results of the purchase (Step 728B).

The versatility offered to customers in activating and using extracredit lines allows credit card issuers to provide user-friendly creditcard products, while maintaining control over credit processingoperations. Also, customers of the credit card issuer are givenversatility in terms of payment options with multiple credit lines.

Payments made by a customer to a credit card issuer are based on anaccount statement. The account statement may be issued each billingcycle and indicate, for example: the available balance for each creditline; previous transactions applied to specified credit lines;outstanding balances for each credit line; minimum payment due; and thedate the payment is due. Of course, other information may be included ineach account statement (i.e., interest rate(s), contact information,etc.) as well. A customer may pay the credit card issuer by making apayment that is anywhere between an amount equivalent to the minimumpayment due and the outstanding balance due. Once a credit card issuerreceives payment, it is normally applied to the general purpose creditline or cash advance line, depending on the terms of the creditagreement established with the customer. However, with credit cardaccounts that include extra credit lines associated with the features ofthe present invention, additional payment options may be available tothe customer and credit card issuer.

For example, a credit card issuer may apply a payment first to a generalpurpose credit line and then to multiple credit lines proportionally orby fixed amount. Alternatively, payments received by a customer may beapplied proportionally to each credit line that has an outstandingbalance. In either case, the exact manner by which a credit card issuerwill apply payments will be indicated to a customer in a credit cardagreement offered to the customer. Proportional payments allow creditcard issuer to divide a payment into sub-payments for application to thecredit lines with outstanding balances. For instance, if a customer hasthree credit lines (a general purpose credit line, a cash advance creditline and a extra credit line), payment from the customer may bedistributed proportionally among the credit lines. On the other hand,the payment may be applied at a fixed amount to a selected credit line,until the outstanding balance of the selected credit line is reduced tozero. These payment options are demonstrated below with the examplepresented in Table II, which illustrates exemplary payment options for aTABLE II Example of Payment Options 1^(st) Bucket 1^(st) Bucket 3^(rd)Bucket Available Outstanding 2^(nd) Bucket 2^(nd) Bucket Available3^(rd) Bucket Balance- Balance- Available Outstanding Balance-Outstanding General General Balance- Balance- Extra Balance- PaymentPurpose Purpose Cash Cash Credit Extra Credit Amount Credit Line CreditLine Advance Advance Line Line $800 $200 $500 $0 $100 $100 Opt 1 $200$900 $100 $500 $0 $200  $0 Opt 2 $250 $1000   $0 $500 $0 $150  $50

In the example of Table II, the 1^(st) bucket is associated with thecustomer's general purpose credit line, the 2^(nd) with cash advances,and the 3^(rd) bucket with an extra credit line. In this example, assumethat the customer makes a $200 payment to a credit card issuer. Option 1(Opt. 1) illustrates the process where the payment is proportionallyapplied to each of the customer's three credit lines. In this instance,the credit card issuer has established a payment ratio that isequivalent for all three credit lines. That is, a customer's payment maybe separated into equal sub-payments that are applied to each creditline. Of course, the credit card issuer may establish a variety ofpayment rations that are not symmetrical to the number of credit lines acustomer has activated. In the example of Table II, because there is nooutstanding balance for the 2^(nd) bucket, the customer's payment issplit into two equal sub-payments (i.e., two $100 payments) that areapplied to the general purpose credit line and extra credit line,respectively. As shown, one $100 sub-payment is applied to the 1^(st)bucket (reducing the outstanding balance from $200 to $100 andincreasing the available balance from $800 to $900). The remaining $100sub-payment is applied to the 3^(rd) bucket (reducing the outstandingbalance from $100 to $0 and increasing the available balance from $100to $200).

Option 2 (Opt. 2) in Table II illustrates the process where the paymentis applied to the three credit lines at fixed amounts. In this option,the payment amount is first applied to the 1^(st) bucket's outstandingbalance. As shown, the $250 payment is applied to the 1^(st) bucketoutstanding balance (reducing the outstanding balance from $200 to $0and increasing the available balance from $800 to $1000). The remaining$50 of the customer's payment is then applied to the 3^(rd) bucket(reducing the outstanding balance from $100 to $50 and increasing theavailable balance from $100 to $150). Thus, with a fixed payment option,payments may be first applied to the general line of credit until theoutstanding balance is reduced to zero, and remaining payments may besubsequently applied to the remaining credit lines.

As can be seen, payment option(s) allow versatility in the processing ofcredit card account payments received from customers. The examplesillustrated in Table II are exemplary and should not be consideredlimiting. A number of additional payment options may also be institutedby credit card issuer. For instance, the ratios used in the proportionpayment option may be adjusted to a number of different values.Additionally, in the fixed payment option, the extra credit line mayhave a payment applied until its outstanding balance is reduced to zeroprior to applying payments to the general credit line.

As described, the present invention enables credit card holders toobtain extra lines of credit without waiting for new cards to be issuedby a credit card issuer. The present invention also provides purchasingadvantages to customers though the use of multiple lines of credit.Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled inthe art from consideration of the specification and practice of theinvention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification andexamples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spiritof the invention being indicated by the following claims. For example,in addition to associating selected vendor(s) with extra line(s) ofcredit that have been added to an existing credit card product, thefeatures of the present invention may also be implemented with newlyissued credit cards with extra credit lines. That is, customers who havebeen authorized to receive a new credit card from the credit card issuer1200, may also have the advantages of vendor profiles associated withextra line(s) of credit. These customers may be given the opportunity toselect and edit the vendor profiles just as the customers who have hadextra credit lines added to their existing credit cards. The same extracredit line procedures previously described may be followed to offer andcustomize a newly issued credit card with extra lines of credit withassociated vendor profiles for customers.

1.-10. (canceled)
 11. A method for processing credit card transactions,comprising: receiving transaction information associated with a customerattempting to perform a transaction at a vendor site using a credit cardissued from a credit card issuer; determining whether the customer hasan extra line of credit associated with the credit card based on thetransaction information; determining whether the vendor is associatedwith the credit card issuer based on the transaction information;determining whether the vendor is associated with the customer's extraline of credit based on the transaction information; and applying thetransaction to the extra line of credit when it is determined that thecustomer does have an extra line of credit and the vendor is associatedwith the credit card issuer.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein thevendor is associated with the credit card issuer and is not associatedwith the customer's extra line of credit, the method further comprising:allowing the customer to selectively add the vendor to a vendor groupassociated with the customer's extra line of credit, wherein the vendergroup includes a plurality of vendors that are associated with thecustomer's extra line of credit.
 13. The method of claim 11, whereindetermining whether the customer has an extra line of credit associatedwith the credit card further includes: determining that the customerdoes not have an extra line of credit associated with the credit card;presenting an offer to the customer to obtain an extra line of creditfrom the credit card issuer; processing the customer's response to theoffer to determine if the customer accepts the offer; and activating anextra line of credit for the customer's credit card if the customeraccepts the offer.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the offerindicates a set of selected vendors the extra line of credit isassociated with, wherein the vendor is included with the set of selectedvendors.
 15. The method of claim 13, wherein the offer indicates a listof associated vendors, the method further comprising: determining a setof vendors selected by the customer from the list of associated vendors;and relating the set of vendors selected by the customer with thecustomer's extra line of credit.
 16. The method of claim 15, furthercomprising: including a vendor associated with the vendor site in thelist of associated vendors.
 17. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising: applying the transaction to a primary line of creditassociated with the customer's credit card when it is determined thatthe customer does have an extra line of credit and the vendor is notassociated with the credit card issuer.
 18. The method of claim 11,further comprising: applying the transaction to a primary line of creditassociated with the customer's credit card when it is determined thatthe customer does have an extra line of credit and the vendor is notassociated with the customer's extra line of credit.
 19. The method ofclaim 11, further comprising: applying the transaction to a primary lineof credit and the extra line of credit associated with the customer'scredit card.
 20. The method of claim 11, further comprising: presenting,when it is determined that the customer does have an extra line ofcredit and that the vendor is not associated with the customer's extraline of credit, an offer to the customer to associate the vendor to thecustomer's extra line of credit; processing the customer's response tothe offer to determine if the customer accepted the offer; andassociating the vendor to the customer's extra line of credit if thecustomer accepts the offer.
 21. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising: providing the vendor site as a web site; and permitting thecustomer to perform the transaction using a remote computer system toaccess the web site.
 22. The method of claim 11, further comprising:providing the vendor site as a merchant location; and permitting thecustomer to perform the transaction at a point of sale terminal locatedat the merchant location. 23.-43. (canceled)
 44. A computer-readablemedium including instructions for performing a method, when executed bya processor, for processing credit card transactions, comprising:receiving transaction information associated with a customer attemptingto perform a transaction at a vendor site using a credit card issuedfrom a credit card issuer; determining whether the customer has an extraline of credit associated with the credit card based on the transactioninformation; determining whether the vendor is associated with thecredit card issuer based on the transaction information; determiningwhether the vendor is associated with the customer's extra line ofcredit based on the transaction information; and applying thetransaction to the extra line of credit when it is determined that thecustomer does have an extra line of credit and the vendor is associatedwith the credit card issuer.
 45. The computer-readable medium of claim44, wherein the vendor is associated with the credit card issuer and isnot associated with the customer's extra line of credit, the methodfurther comprising: allowing the customer to selectively add the vendorto a vendor group associated with the customer's extra line of credit,wherein the vender group includes a plurality of vendors that areassociated with the customer's extra line of credit.
 46. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein determining whether thecustomer has an extra line of credit associated with the credit cardfurther includes: determining that the customer does not have an extraline of credit associated with the credit card; presenting an offer tothe customer to obtain an extra line of credit from the credit cardissuer; processing the customer's response to the offer to determine ifthe customer accepts the offer; and activating an extra line of creditfor the customer's credit card if the customer accepts the offer. 47.The computer-readable medium of claim 46, wherein the offer indicates aset of selected vendors the extra line of credit is associated with,wherein the vendor is included with the set of selected vendors.
 48. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 46, wherein the offer indicates a listof associated vendors, the method further comprising: determining a setof vendors selected by the customer from the list of associated vendors;and relating the set of vendors selected by the customer with thecustomer's extra line of credit.
 49. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 48, further comprising: including a vendor associated with thevendor site in the list of associated vendors.
 50. The computer-readablemedium of claim 44, further comprising: applying the transaction to aprimary line of credit associated with the customer's credit card whenit is determined that the customer does have an extra line of credit andthe vendor is not associated with the credit card issuer.
 51. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 44, further comprising: applying thetransaction to a primary line of credit associated with the customer'scredit card when it is determined that the customer does have an extraline of credit and the vendor is not associated with the customer'sextra line of credit.
 52. The computer-readable medium of claim 44,further comprising: applying the transaction to a primary line of creditand the extra line of credit associated with the customer's credit card.53. A system for processing credit card transactions, comprising: meansfor receiving transaction information associated with a customerattempting to perform a transaction at a vendor site using a credit cardissued from a credit card issuer; means for determining whether thecustomer has an extra line of credit associated with the credit cardbased on the transaction information; means for determining whether thevendor is associated with the credit card issuer based on thetransaction information; means for determining whether the vendor isassociated with the customer's extra line of credit based on thetransaction information; and means for applying the transaction to theextra line of credit when it is determined that the customer does havean extra line of credit and the vendor is associated with the creditcard issuer.
 54. The system of claim 53, further comprising: means forpresenting, when it is determined that the customer does have an extraline of credit and that the vendor is not associated with the customer'sextra line of credit, an offer to the customer to associate the vendorto the customer's extra line of credit; means for processing thecustomer's response to the offer to determine if the customer acceptedthe offer; and means for associating the vendor to the customer's extraline of credit if the customer accepts the offer.
 55. The system ofclaim 53, further comprising: means for providing the vendor site as aweb site; and means for permitting the customer to perform thetransaction using a remote computer system to access the web site. 56.The system of claim 53, further comprising: means for providing thevendor site as a merchant location; and means for permitting thecustomer to perform the transaction at a point of sale terminal locatedat the merchant location. 57.-84. (canceled)